Yes We Can HOPE

I want so bad for MJ and Jens to understand the significance of what has happened tonight. I wish they could feel my sense of HOPE and finally some optimism. I wish they knew how much vindication this gives so many people. I wish they could they could see the difference between just yesterday and tomorrow. I wish they could see the attitude change in leadership. I HOPE they will be able to look back at this moment of time and appreciate it. I HOPE we can ride the momentum to produce bigger, greater, better. And mostly, I HOPE this means a stronger foundation for their future.

November 1st

This year for my birthday I decided to plan everything out- this one had to count. My Dad was nice enough to watch the girls so Mark and I could go shopping. Then we ate at Cafe Rio. We went for a bike ride (I got my butt kicked). Mark made my favorite foods (Carmel, Chocolate, Angel food cake, home made chips, candy, candy candy). Clark and Carlos came. And we played some Wii. And all throughout the day I opened presents. It was definitely one of the best.

Halloween 2008

Oh, Halloween-one of the best days of the year. We started out by going swimming in the Dennet's new pool. Yep, it was warm enough to swim. MJ made sure Tigger and Pooh were buckled up for safety.

Then we went to trick-or-treat at Mark's work.

Uncle Clark and Uncle Carlos went too. They were a lot of help.

My Dad was an even bigger help and washed the car and gassed it up for us while we were visiting Mark.

We did go Trick-or-Treating. Jens favorite house was the one that just left the candy bowl out. She went to that house twice. MJ thought everything about it was fantastic. She loved handing out the candy just as much as getting it. (They didn't get any soup though :))

Check this out

Have you ever thought, we can do this project, it wont take too long. And then forever later it still isn't done? Last week we had our carpets cleaned. While the furniture was all moved Mark and I thought it would be a good idea to paint our room. Our room isn't that big, and we have painted every other room in our house. Only problem, we knew we couldn't do it with the kids around. So after they went to bed on Friday night (10/24) we started to paint. At about 4am we called it quits. We have worked on it just about every night since. We still have some touch ups to do but here are the before and after pictures:

I almost forgot to take the before picture

I love it!!

Halloween is my FAVORITE

Ok, lets be honest. Does it get any better than an abundance of candy and dressing how ever you want? Oh no. Halloween is by far the best holiday. We went to a fall festival (and the camera fell out of my pocket in the car, so this is the only picture I got), and this is MJ showing off her Hello Kitty painted arm and balloon sword. The picture I wish I would have gotten was MJ finishing the obstacle course, or Jens in pure delight blowing on her "loot" as MJ would say (I think the rest of us say flute).

After the fall festival we went to a Halloween Party. They had a bunch of different themed rooms with things to do. It was well decorated- they had spooky decorations, and they had a bunch of things to do.

pumpkin patch

We went to a pumpkin patch with some friends. It was super fun. MJ loved everything about it, but mostly she loved the slide.
Jens like the animals. She kept signing dog though. That was about the only thing she liked. Oh, except when we went home :)
PS- it was HOT?!! So much for fall weather.

And that's all I have to say about that

Thanks for the buttons Mom.

My pumpkin

Today MJ wanted to wear her Halloween shirt. Only one problem-- it is too small. We went round and round about changing. She is soo stubborn- and I have no idea where she gets that from :). You can see who won this battle.

Harry Reid

We went to listen to Harry Reid today. What I heard was interesting, but I didn't hear too much. MJ was more interested in crawling on the library floor. I know, gross. And, all MJ wanted to see was my cousin Tessa. Jens slept almost the entire time. I dunno, I think this could be a cover pix for a magazine.

Cans

I would love to say that I have instilled a great sense of environmental responsibility in MJ by teaching her to recycle. But the real story is she loves to take the cans out to the recycle at my parents house. I think it is a game she plays with herself, how many can she possibly hold.